After Trading Volume Halves, South Korea's Two Major Crypto Exchanges Start Token Listing War

Author: Zen, PANews

As the South Korean stock market cools down, the competition for token listings between the two major crypto exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, is heating up.

In the past month, the pace of new token listings on Upbit and Bithumb has noticeably accelerated, with both exchanges adding 17 new KRW trading assets, significantly higher than the usual pace of 6 to 10 new assets per month in the first half of the year. Against the backdrop of overall sluggish trading volume, a new token listing war has reignited, focusing on existing funds and retail investor attention.

The Best Summer for the South Korean Stock Market, Crypto Trading Faces a Big Chill

In the first half of this year, the South Korean stock and cryptocurrency markets have followed two completely opposite trajectories.

According to data from the Korea Exchange (KRX), the average daily trading volume of the KOSPI index was 27.06 trillion KRW in January, rising to 32.23 trillion KRW in February, setting a historical record at that time. By May, the market had gone completely wild, with the average daily trading volume of the KOSPI reaching 50.22 trillion KRW, and in June, it continued to maintain a high level of 50.35 trillion KRW, nearly doubling since the beginning of the year.

This trading frenzy was largely concentrated in large semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, creating a significant upward trend and wealth effect. Amid the rapid rise of the KOSPI, retail funds flocked to the stock market. Consequently, the already lackluster local crypto trading in South Korea continued to shrink, cooling down during what was dubbed "the best summer in Korea."

According to CoinGecko, in the second quarter of this year, the total trading volume of five KRW exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax—was approximately 146.43 billion USD, a 49.5% decrease from 289.69 billion USD in the same period of 2025. Among them, the two major exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, saw trading volumes drop by 54% and 41.7%, respectively.

For South Korean investors in the first half of this year, the hottest and most active market was clearly the stock market, not cryptocurrency. For the exchanges, even if they listed a few more altcoins or launched several activities during this period, it was impossible to compete with the stock market, which was generating a strong wealth effect.

During this phase, the pace of new token listings on Upbit and Bithumb remained normal or slightly slowed, maintaining around 6 to 10 new tokens per month. In the second quarter, which was the most frenzied for the South Korean stock market, Bithumb seemed to be avoiding the stock market's spotlight, adding only 22 new tokens, significantly lower than the 33 added in the same period of 2025.

The "Turning Point" Has Arrived, and the Two Major Exchanges Start the Token Listing War

As the third quarter began, things started to change.

After the peaks of May and June, the average daily trading volume of the KOSPI fell to 36.88 trillion KRW in July, a month-on-month decrease of about 26.8%. Entering August, as of August 9, the average daily trading volume reported by South Korean exchanges further declined to 26.28 trillion KRW, already below the level at the beginning of the year.

Additionally, data from South Korean exchanges showed that the proportion of individual investors in KOSPI trading volume dropped from 48.19% in January to 31.23% in July. The investors' pre-deposit, viewed as "waiting funds" in the securities market, also fell from a peak of 139.69 trillion KRW on June 4 to 104.14 trillion KRW by the end of July, a decrease of about 25.5% over two months.

From a wealth explosion to the notion that "only those who haven't bought stocks are winners," after experiencing the frenzy of the first half of the year, the proportion of retail trading in the stock market and the waiting funds in the over-the-counter market began to cool from their peaks.

It was precisely during this period that the pace of new token listings on Upbit and Bithumb began to accelerate significantly.

From early July to August 11, Upbit added a total of 17 new KRW trading assets within a month, along with 8 new coins that only opened BTC and USDT trading. Compared to the 6 to 10 new coins listed per month in the first half of the year, this is equivalent to the normal quantity for at least the past two months. Bithumb also maintained a high frequency of new listings, adding 17 new KRW trading assets as well.

PANews learned that compared to the previously rumored high listing fees, some projects indicated that they were informed of the recent intensive listings afterward and did not pay any listing fees.

Whether the management of the two exchanges decides the number of new listings based on changes in KOSPI trading volume is unknown. However, from the perspective of user competition, this time window is clearly more favorable than in the first half of the year.

When the stock market has numerous rising targets and high volatility every day, relying on new coins to capture retail investor attention is completely insufficient. However, as the wealth effect of the stock market weakens, exchanges can attract high-risk investors again through new assets, short-term price fluctuations, and reward activities, potentially improving marginal effects.

According to CoinGecko, as of August 11, Upbit's total trading volume was approximately 492 million USD, with a 116.7% increase over the past 24 hours. Among them, newly added KRW trading assets such as CAP, GRVT, HOME, and GEOD have entered the top trading volume list, with just 9 recently added assets contributing nearly 20% of the platform's 24-hour trading volume.

Under the Competition of the Existing Market, Token Listings Are Becoming Increasingly Homogeneous

However, frequently listing new coins can create new trading hotspots, but it is still not enough to reverse the overall shrinking trend of the South Korean crypto market.

From July 1 to 27, the cumulative trading volume of the top five domestic exchanges in South Korea also decreased by 16.9% compared to the same month last year. During the same period, Upbit's trading volume fell by 10.0% to approximately 116.943 trillion KRW, but its market share rose from 62.3% to 67.4%.

This means that the trading demand brought by new coins is currently more reflected as a redistribution within the existing market rather than a large-scale return of overall incremental funds.

For South Korean exchanges, this kind of competition for existing funds is particularly important. Upbit and Bithumb's revenue relies almost entirely on trading fees, which determines that they are more dependent on trading volume than large global exchanges.

Thus, in the competition for existing funds, the assets chosen by Upbit and Bithumb are becoming increasingly similar.

According to statistics from DAXA and exchange announcements, in the second quarter of this year, Upbit and Bithumb listed 9 assets on the same day; if counting projects that were listed by both exchanges a few days apart, the number reaches 14. During the same period, the combined trading volume of the two exchanges accounted for about 96% of the five major KRW exchanges in South Korea.

Therefore, this token listing war actually involves competition on two levels.

On one hand, Upbit and Bithumb need to quickly cover popular market assets to avoid new trading demand being monopolized by the other. On the other hand, after the overall shrinkage of the South Korean crypto market, what the two exchanges really need to compete for is essentially the limited risk funds and attention of retail investors in South Korea.

While these measures may not restore prosperity to the entire crypto market, by continuously creating new trading targets and short-term opportunities, they can keep limited funds on their platforms as much as possible, which may already be the best result that exchanges can strive for at present.

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